Marin watchdog panel says special districts overlooked

The Marin County Civil Grand Jury says that dozens of special districts get little attention in Marin even though taxpayers pay more than $160 million to them every year.

The court-empowered watchdog group recently issued a report titled: "What Are Special Districts and Why Do They Matter?"

"It is remarkable that the decisions made regularly by special district boards are not on the radar screens of most taxpayers," the volunteer jury said. "Citizens seldom attend board meetings and media coverage is infrequent at best."

The result, the jury said, is that problems can boil over, such as happened in recent years in the Novato fire and Ross Valley sanitary districts.

The jury found that a complete list of all the districts "did not exist" until it launched its inquiry, and its report urged the county to list all districts, along with contact information, on its website.